Monadnock Table Cover Artist

                                                                                      (C) 2025 Dale DiMauro
 

Since January I have been the featured cover artist on a local magazine called Monadnock Table. This magazine is published by the Keene Sentinel (Keene, NH) and primarily distributed in Cheshire County, New Hampshire.

Overall it has been a positive experience from the initial interview through emails and seeing it published. I relish the exposure it has created and the feedback from people who have seen it.

The theme of the publication was 'comfort foods', winter and snow. To fit this topic I supplied many watercolors of snow which were painted several years ago when we had snowier winters. Little did I know we would have a 'true' winter this calendar year.

Landscape Painting

                                                                                             (C) 2025 Dale DiMauro
 

When visiting coastal Maine last summer I noticed this woman in the distance dressed in red amongst a tangle of green. The green growth almost looked tropical in contrast to the woman's orderly appearance and behavior.

That flash of an image or memory sat with me for some time. Recently, I decided to put down that experience on paper. The mystery of what is happening out towards the ocean adds another layer of intrigue.

I like utilizing the complementary colors whenever I can. The red/green combination for me really balances out the composition.

LOCAL FIELD

                                                                                         (C) 2025 Dale DiMauro
 

There is a nice warm glow to this watercolor. I come back and can gaze at this picture endlessly. I don't know what it is - but I think it is that creamy yellow in the middle. There is warmth even in the shadows in the foreground.

Here in Vermont we have had a gray, cloudy, winter. Not to mention the coldest winter I can recall. So to look at that bright, sunny picture above makes me calm and focused.

I like the combination of yellow ochre/burnt umber for the woodland edge feathered up from darkest at the bottom. 

Experimenting with Painting Skies

                                                                                     (C) 2025 Dale DiMauro
 

Often I will turn over an unfinished plein air watercolor painting and just start painting on the backside. This is the case with this watercolor.

I keep developing my approach to painting the sky in watercolor. It is very easy or instinctive to paint a graded blue wash for the sky. However, most days are not truly full of blue skies. Also, the sky really conveys the mood for your scene so there is a large opportunity for me to seize.

In this sky I lifted out paint where the streaks of white are. Also, as the pigments dried I dropped in water or sprayed mist which created cloud-like shapes with soft and hard edges. These are some approaches I look forward to developing in the future.

Stepping back from this painting I can see how a J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) influence may have seeped in. Turner was a landscape painter who left a vast quantity of watercolors, in addition to his oil paintings.

But no -I have not even thought of J.M.W Turner, in some time, even though I do find his work intriguing.

Landscape Painting

                                                                                      (C) 2025 Dale DiMauro
 

Nothing inspires me more than painting the landscape. The changing natural light and seasonal color can be endlessly fascinating. There are a limitless amount of techniques to adopt which can make your paintings evolve.

However, painting fast in watercolor is a thing. This approach is more about putting down pigment, minimizing detail and not fuzzing about.

This painting was done in about forty minutes. It was painting rapidly and very satisfying in execution. There is a directness and freshness which I like about this approach.